Xituo ancient town

Xituo ancient town

Xituo ancient town

Located in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County of Chongqing, it was formerly named xijietuo, which was called "the western boundary of Bazhou" in ancient times. It was named after huishuituo on the South Bank of the Yangtze River. It faces Shibaozhai, the Pearl of the Yangtze River across the river. Xituo is under the jurisdiction of Shizhu County, which is known as "stepping on three counties with one foot".

Xituo has a long history and culture. As early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was "a marsh town with prosperous land and water trade and fireworks". Since ancient times, this is an important deep-water harbor in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and has become an important tourism gateway of Huangshui National Forest Park.

In 1992, it was listed as a provincial historical and cultural town in Sichuan Province. In 2002, it was listed as a traditional style town for relocation and protection in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. In 2003, it was listed as one of the first ten famous historical and cultural towns in China. In 2008, it was rated as one of the 12 new scenic spots in Bayu. In 2009, it was rated as the most dynamic small town in Chongqing.

In December 2015, Xituo ancient town was selected as one of the 30 Best New Tourism Landscapes in the Three Gorges.

Historical evolution

As early as the Neolithic age, the ancestors of Tujia people lived in Xituo town and found Guanyin temple, Shawan, Zhuanwa River and gonglongbei Shang and Zhou sites.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, salt industry rose in eastern Sichuan, "Sichuan salt sold to Chu", and Xituo became an important commercial town in Southeast Sichuan at that time.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, Xituo was one of the material distribution centers in the east of Sichuan and the west of Hubei

Since ancient times, Xituo has been an important deep-water harbor in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It flourished in the middle of Qing Dynasty. The whole town climbed up five li from the riverside to the flat terrain. This is the only town layout on the Yangtze River that is perpendicular to the contour line in the whole process. Therefore, Xituo has a thousand steps of stone terraces, which is known as the sky climbing ladder, also known as the ladder type town. The ladder is about 500 meters long and the height difference is nearly 160 meters. In the ancient town, there are well preserved Han brick and rare huge fossil group of ancient trees in the third glacial century.

As early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was a place of "land and water trade, flourishing fireworks, just like a county." The ancient history has left valuable tourism wealth here, and has become the tourism gateway of Huangshui National Forest Park on the golden line of Three Gorges tourism.

Commercial economy

After visiting Xituo town in Chongqing in 1995, American professors confirmed that the real origin of commercial towns should be in China. YUNTI street, an ancient town in Xituo, was included in the text of ancient Chinese towns.

Main attractions

Stilted building

Strolling in the ancient town, you can walk up the YUNTI street. On both sides are the Tujia Diaojiaolou, with Ziyun palace, Yuwang palace, Wantian palace, Guihua palace and other ancient architectural relics.

YUNTI Street

YUNTI street is the main street of the town. In 1987, YUNTI street was listed as a county-level cultural relics protection unit in Shizhu County. After the impoundment of the Three Gorges water conservancy project in 2009, more than 500 meters of old YUNTI street was flooded, covering an area of 10000 square meters and a construction area of 4250 square meters, accounting for 20% of the total length of the street.

With the rise of the new Three Gorges tour around the lake, Xituo ancient town is developing a historical street, xinyunti street. YUNTI street is vertical to the Yangtze River, with 113 platforms and 1314 blue stone ladders. Looking up from the edge of the Yangtze River, it's like a ladder straight into the sky; looking down from the top of the street, especially when there are clouds, it's like being in the clouds. Therefore, people praise it as "YUNTI Street", also known as "Tongtian Street". YUNTI street is the only vertical street along the Yangtze River, which has a very important scientific research value in the history of Chinese and foreign architecture. Experts call it "the first street of the Yangtze River". On both sides of the street are the stacked stilted buildings of Tujia folk houses left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them are "Ziyun Palace", "Yuwang Palace", "Wantian Palace", "osmanthus garden" and other famous buildings, which add a lot of aesthetic feelings of nostalgia for the past. Now, they are rated as the first batch of Chinese historical and cultural towns by the Ministry of construction and the National Bureau of cultural relics.

Ziyun Palace

Commonly known as "osmanthus garden", it is an ancient building of Qing Dynasty and a cultural relic protection unit at the county level. Qin Liangyu's palace was once here.

Yu Palace

Built in the late Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in 1900, it is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Ersheng Palace

It was built in Ming Dynasty, offering sacrifices to Confucius and Guan Yu. It is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Xiayandian

As a typical ancient residential complex in eastern Sichuan, the Qing Dynasty folk houses are the houses of the Yang family in the Qing Dynasty, belonging to the county-level cultural relics protection units.

Yongcheng company

It was built in the late Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in 1944. It used to be the Liaison Station of the Communist Party of China's underground organization in East Sichuan. It is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Cui Shaohe residence

Modern architecture is a combination of Chinese and western.

South Longyan bridge, North Longyan Bridge

Single arch stone bridge, built in the Qing Dynasty, is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Fueryan cliff statue

Single niche small statue, Ming Dynasty stone art, is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Wantian Palace

Built in the Ming Dynasty, it is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

temple dedicated to Guan Yu

Qing Dynasty architecture is a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Nancheng Temple

Located in Nanyang Village, Xituo Town, founded in the Han Dynasty, it is now an ancient architectural complex of the Ming Dynasty and a county-level cultural relics protection unit. The existing ancient buildings were built in 1502, the 14th year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty.

Development and construction

In November 2003, it was awarded the first batch of "famous historical and cultural towns in China" by the Ministry of construction and the State Administration of cultural relics

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In 2008, it was selected as one of the "Bayu new twelve landscapes" in Chongqing, and named "xituotian Street"

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Tourism information

Take a bus at the South Square bus station of Chongqing north railway station to reach Xituo ancient town (the whole high speed takes about 3 hours, and there is only one bus every day, that is, 12:30). In addition, you can take a bullet train to get off at Shizhu station (it takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes), and then there is a shuttle bus to Shizhu County at Shizhu bus station. When you get to Shizhu, you can take the shuttle bus to the ancient town. From Chongqing, you can also take a steamer to Xituo, two times a day, 9:00 and 17:00 respectively.

get accommodation

Xituo has many accommodation points, and the price is generally between 40-200 yuan.

Address: South Bank of Yangtze River, Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County

Longitude: 108.22185475967

Latitude: 30.406542867302

Chinese PinYin : Xi Tuo Gu Zhen